Sir! We have made contact with the enemy in close orbit of the local star. As per orders we are currently enroute back to the Barnard’s Star JP and should be rendezvousing with you in 3 Days and 6 hours. Attached is sensor readings for what my intelligence department is codenaming the Toecutter Class, it is big! We may require the assistance of more Cruiser Squadrons!

Message received, continue on course to JP and await further instructions. Reinforcements will not be forthcoming as all other fleet elements are committed elsewhere. We will remove this monstrosity from the void and claim this system in the name of Terra!

**END MESSAGE

28th June 2038

(NB, incase you are wondering, TFNC-AAR-001 would be the 1st Battle of Van Maanens Star)

Detailed Report:Enroute to what is now being designated as a Carrier vessel we ran into 7 6000 ton vessels classified as Daemonjuggler. We quickly dispatched them all without any indication that they were armed and proceeded to the Toecutter class carrier, keeping a distance of 240k km at first.

Our hit rate was roughly 10% which was not enough to counter the recharge rate of its shields. We therefore closed to 200k km, with the thought that larger vessels from this race may carry larger versions of the Meson Cannon employed on their Teethmangler class. As we were not dealing enough damage and had received no fire in return we closed the distance to 180k km and then again to 140k km.

The estimate shield recharge rate on the Toecutter class is 2 per second, 120 per minute. At 140k km distance we are dealing 10 per 30 second slavo, 20 per minute. It was therefore obvious that we either had to break off and request all Fleet units to aid us in knocking down the shields or we would have to close in order to increase our hit rate. Closing on the target would also mean the containment fields would be delivering more energy on impact.

At 120k km we were dealing twice as much damage per shot with a 65% hit rate, but were still not draining their shields, so once again we closed, steeling ourselves against return fire.

At 65k km our damage output jumped to about 55 per salvo, but it was still not enough. With no return fire at even this range we were beginning to hope that it was completely unarmed. If this was the case then we could feasibly approach to point blank range and unleash the full potential of our Plasma Carronades.

Alas, when we closed to 55k km the Cruiser Avenger took fire from the carrier, losing 2 engines and an engineering bay at the cost of 32 sailors. I immediately gave the order for all ships to proceed at maximum speed to the Barnard’s Star JP whilst sending a message drone to HQ asking for reinforcements. If we are to rid this system of this menace then we will need to double our current firepower.